Category Archives: Covid-19

A study has suggested that enzymes in natt may keep the severe acute respiratory syndrome ... [+] coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV2) from infecting human cells in a laboratory. (Photo by Koichi Kamoshida/Getty Images)

Bean there, done that.

A study Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications is getting some attention because it showed that the extract from natt beans, a traditional Japanese food item, could prevent Covid-19 coronavirus infections. However, before you start consuming natt by the truckload, keep in mind that these findings may only apply if you happen to be a clump of cells in a culture dish or test tube.

Thats because the study was done on cells from cattle and humans in a laboratory and not on whole people or other whole animals. Remember what happens in a lab in cell culture may stay in a lab and cell culture. Plenty of things that have worked in a lab have never panned out when it comes to real living humans. So take the findings from this study with more than the 12 grams of salt that a cup of natt beans may have.

Now on to the study. A team from the Center for Infectious Diseases of Epidemiology and Prevention Research (CEPiR), the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, the University of Miyazaki, and the National Institute of Technology (Mami Oba, Wen Rongduo, Akatsuki Saito, Tamaki Okabayashi, Tomoko Yokota, Junko Yasuoka, Yoko Sato, Koji Nishifuji, Hitoshi Wake, Yutaka Nibu, and TetsuyaMizutani) conducted the study. The research team prepared extracts of natt, which results when soybeans are fermented with bacteria called Bacillus subtilis. But instead of putting the natt on rice or topping it with mustard and long onion, they applied the extract to the cattle and human cells.

Natto is made from steamed and fermented soybeans. (Photo by Koichi Kamoshida/Getty Images)

When unheated extract was used, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus2 (SARS-CoV-2) and thebovine herpesvirus 1(BHV-1) struggled to infect the cells. However, when the natt was first heated at 100C for 10minutes, it no longer seemed to have any effect on either type of virus. The researchers hypothesized that the natt extract included enzymes called proteases that were breaking down key proteins on the surface of the viruses that gave the viruses the ability to infect cells. And that heating the natt extract then broke down and inactivated these proteases.

Indeed, the second part of the study seemed to confirm this hypothesis. Treating the natt extract first with protease inhibitors, medications that inhibit the activity of protease enzymes, then inhibited the ability of the natt extract to inhibit the viruses from infecting the cells. Got that?

In the third part of the study, the researchers applied the natt extract directly to the viruses and checked what happened to the proteins on the surfaces of the viruses. The extract appeared to break down a key portion of the spike protein that the SARS-CoV-2. This key portion, dubbed the receptor binding domain or the notorious RBD, is what the Covid-19 coronavirus uses to grab onto cells that it will invade. These enzymes also appeared to break down similar proteins on the surface of the BHV-1.

So again, this is good news if you are just a clump of cells in a culture dish or test tube. Of course, if thats the case, then youve got other problems. For example, you may have a tough time answering texts, posting stuff on Instagram, or speaking when invited on to the stage in Clubhouse. However, if you are a human being or even a gigantic squirrel, these findings may not necessarily apply to you.

Natt on udonnoodles. Yum. (Photo: Getty)

Again, there are many examples of things that seem to work on cells in a lab but dont end up being effective in people. First of all, conditions can be very different between a lab and the body. Individual cells can be like individual high school students when separated from their cliques or individual people wearing Viking hats and skins when not part of a mob. Individual cells dont always act the same way alone as when they are part of an organ or other body part.

Secondly, even if the natt extract were to work on cells when they are in your body, it may be very difficult to deliver enough natt extract to the right parts of your body. Inhaling gallons of natt extract so that your lungs and respiratory tract are filled with the stuff may not be very practical or healthy. Sure drowning from natt extract may prevent you from being infected with the Covid-19 coronavirus because you would be dead. But death has its other problems.

Plus, how often would you have to take the natt extract to keep you from being infected? Every day? Every hour? Every minute? Whoops its 9:23 pm, time for my natt extract. Oh wait, its 9:24 pm, time for some more natt extract. Hmm, it now seems to be 9:25 pm, which means more natt extract, could really interrupt a date or a job interview.

So, all in all, this study alone is natt lotta of evidence that natt can be used to prevent Covid-19 coronavirus infections in humans. Its a start, though. Many more scientific studies are needed to confirm whether natt indeed can prevent viruses from infecting cells and determine how this may work in real, complete, living animals and humans. Maybe in the future natt can prove useful or form the basis of new medications. But the future is not the present without a time machine.

That doesnt mean that you shouldnt eat natt. It has a decent amount of fiber, calcium, iron, magnesium, protein, potassium, manganese, and vitamins B2, B6, C, E, and K. Of course, not everyone likes natt as they might avocado toast. Natt can be as polarizing as the series finale of the TV series How I Met Your Mother.You may either love or hate natt. The dish can be a bit of an acquired taste just like your longtime significant other, smelling to some like ammonia or pungent aged cheese and being sticky, gooey, and even mucous-y. Natt can go well on rice, toast, soup, noodles, and even all over your significant other, if you are into that kind of thing.

Some people have even called natt a super-food because of its nutrient content as this PBS Reactions segment shows:

So there are certainly worse things in the world than consuming more natt. Just dont expect it to replace Covid-19 vaccines or any other established Covid-19 precautions any time soon. Thats natt going to happen.

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Can Japanese Natto Beans Help Fight Covid-19? What This Study Really Showed - Forbes

The COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective, but misinformation keeps many people from taking the shot. Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images hide caption

The COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective, but misinformation keeps many people from taking the shot.

Misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines can appear almost anywhere: from an uncle's Facebook post to a well-trusted news commentator. But where does it come from, and why do some myths spread further than others?

With the help of the internet research firm Graphika, NPR analyzed the rise of one persistent set of lies about COVID-19 vaccines: that they can affect female fertility.

Despite a mountain of scientific evidence showing the vaccines are safe and effective, the false information persists.

Graphika's data analysis tools allow the firm to track key points at which a piece of information is shared or amplified. It can illustrate how many of these kinds of lies often go viral.

The events outlined here represent a major amplification event for this false information, but they're by no means the only source of lies about female fertility and the vaccine. Claims about fertility and the coronavirus vaccines go back to at least December, and fertility claims about other vaccines date back even further, in some cases decades.

But the events of earlier this year illustrate how misinformation can spread in a nonlinear manner with many different players adding threads to a web of false content.

Here then is the life cycle of a lie:

After receiving the COVID-19 vaccine this spring, "a lot of women noted heavy menstrual periods," says Alice Lu-Culligan, an MD-Ph.D. candidate at Yale University who studies the immune system and reproductive health.

Lu-Culligan says that immune cells play an important role in menstruation, and so it is in fact possible that the vaccine could temporarily alter that process. "It's very plausible that you could have abnormalities to the typical menstrual cycle," she says.

Other scientists agree it's possible. One team of biological anthropologists is conducting a survey of experiences with menstruation and the vaccines, which has had over 120,000 responses so far, according to Kathryn Clancy, a researcher at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The researchers learned many thousands of people who menstruate have unusually heavy flows after vaccination, and some older people also experienced breakthrough bleeding.

Unfortunately, definitively establishing a link has proved difficult, in large part because trials for the new vaccines never asked women about their periods. Because there is so much natural variation in women's periods month to month, a controlled clinical trial would be needed to try and establish whether it was happening. "When you don't collect these data during the clinical trial, you really lose an opportunity to study it in a controlled fashion," Lu-Culligan says.

The lost opportunity for scientists became an opening for anti-vaccine activists, says Melanie Smith, former director of analysis for Graphika. "In the more successful misinformation cases that we see, there is always that gap of knowledge," she says.

With no firm data, stories about the disruption to menstrual cycles began popping up in forums and groups. Many were just wondering if it had happened to others and whether they should be worried. But there was one Facebook group in particular that turned out to be important.

"It's called, literally 'COVID-19 Vaccine Side Effects,' " Smith says. There were a lot of posts by ordinary people there, looking for answers, but anti-vaccine activists were also part of the group.

One of the people reading this page was an anti-vaccine campaigner named Naomi Wolf. Formerly best known for her writing about feminism, Wolf has, over the years, drifted into anti-vaccine advocacy. "She is a very highly followed influencer in what we call the pseudo-medical community," Smith says.

Wolf is not a medical doctor, and yet on April 19, she tweeted out a link to the Facebook group along with this message: "Hundreds of women on this page say that they are having bleeding/clotting after vaccination, or that they bleed oddly AROUND vaccinated women. Unconfirmed, needs more investigation, but lots of reports."

Smith points out that Wolf is using an old trick: by saying something "needs more investigation," she's raising doubts, without presenting facts that can be refuted.

An anti-vaccine protester dressed up as President Biden holds a sign outside Houston Methodist Hospital in June. Myths about vaccines and fertility are often incorporated into global conspiracy theories. Mark Felix/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

An anti-vaccine protester dressed up as President Biden holds a sign outside Houston Methodist Hospital in June. Myths about vaccines and fertility are often incorporated into global conspiracy theories.

Wolf's tweet also seamlessly inserted a myth: that somehow vaccinated women could pass side effects on to the unvaccinated.

Lu-Culligan says that's absolutely not the case. She adds that this myth seems to echo another popular falsehood: that somehow women who live together can influence each other's cycles.

Wolf kept tweeting and piling on more misinformation in question form: Can vaccines cause infertility? Miscarriages?

This slam went well beyond disruption to menstrual cycles, raising the stakes dramatically. Lu-Culligan says the evidence overwhelmingly shows that the vaccines do not cause these problems. "At this point there have been many, many millions of women who have gotten the vaccine, and there have been no scientific reports of any infertility," she says.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also says that the available data shows that vaccines are safe for those who are pregnant or nursing.

Days after Wolf started tweeting about vaccines and fertility, other influencers began picking it up, and a few clickbait websites wrote fake news stories.

But it was the real news that gave the lies their biggest boost. About a week after the initial tweets, a Miami private school, the Centner Academy, announced it would no longer allow vaccinated teachers into the classroom. It said there were too many questions about whether the vaccine could spread to unvaccinated mothers and children.

The school's CEO, Leila Centner, is an established anti-vaccine advocate, so her decision wasn't surprising. But the ban made national news anyway.

"To some people it's crazy and to others they question it because they want to know more, so for everyone there's a reason why you click on it," says Tara Kirk Sell, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. She says this perfectly illustrates how a lie that's grown big enough can use the mainstream media to get a further boost.

"By covering it, which is important for people to know what kind of stuff is going on out there, the other side of that is that the lie spreads faster, and more people see it and more people pick up on it," Sell says.

And that's what happened. The Miami school story led to global coverage. "This is the point at which we start to see Spanish and Portuguese content, specifically," says Smith, formerly of Graphika.

The lies piggybacked along with news of the school. Outlets in other languages began reporting that the vaccine can spread person to person, or cause fertility problems.

Finally, because misinformation about vaccines is not grounded in data, it can mutate to fit any political message or worldview.

Vaccine myths about fertility and reproduction are particularly potent because they affect a large swath of the population, particularly when they incorporate myths about vaccinated women spreading the side effects. "It's kind of a one-size-fits-all theory in some ways, and the potential impact is everyone, rather than one specific community," Smith says.

In the weeks following the initial wave of coverage, others were using these ideas to grab audiences. Conservative commentator Candace Owens brought the link between vaccines and menstruation up on Instagram. In a six-minute video questioning vaccine safety, Owens never directly repeated the lies about fertility but didn't refute them either.

Far-right commentator Alex Jones folded the vaccine lies into his conspiracy theories about Google and Facebook, which he claims are trying to depopulate the Earth. "It's not just that you're going to be sterile, you're not going to be able to have children," Jones said during a recent broadcast. "You're not going to be able to eat beef anymore."

By late June, the lies about fertility had spread everywhere from France to Brazil. But then, Smith says, they started fading away.

"It seems to have kind of fallen by the wayside in terms of the COVID-19 news cycle that happens in these spaces on the internet," she says.

And that's the last lesson about the lies: They don't stick around. They grab the attention, raise questions and doubt, but there's no substance there. So once they've shocked those they're meant to engage, they disappear.

Or more properly, they're replaced by a new, incredible story.

Excerpt from:

COVID Vaccines And Infertility? How Misinformation Spreads In 6 Steps : Shots - Health News - NPR

MISSION, Kan. (AP) COVID-19 cases nearly tripled in the U.S. over two weeks amid an onslaught of vaccine misinformation that is straining hospitals, exhausting doctors and pushing clergy into the fray.

Our staff, they are frustrated, said Chad Neilsen, director of infection prevention at UF Health Jacksonville, a Florida hospital that is canceling elective surgeries and procedures after the number of mostly unvaccinated COVID-19 inpatients at its two campuses jumped to 134, up from a low of 16 in mid-May.

They are tired. They are thinking this is dj vu all over again, and there is some anger because we know that this is a largely preventable situation, and people are not taking advantage of the vaccine.

Across the U.S., the seven-day rolling average for daily new cases rose over the past two weeks to more than 37,000 on Tuesday, up from less than 13,700 on July 6, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. Health officials blame the delta variant and slowing vaccination rates. Just 56.2% of Americans have gotten at least one dose of the vaccine, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In Louisiana, health officials reported 5,388 new COVID-19 cases Wednesday the third-highest daily count since the beginning of the pandemic in early 2020. Hospitalizations for the disease rose to 844 statewide, up more than 600 since mid-June. New Orleans leaders urged people to resume wearing masks indoors.

Utah reported having 295 people hospitalized due to the virus, the highest number since February. The state has averaged about 622 confirmed cases per day over the last week, about triple the infection rate at its lowest point in early June. Health data shows the surge is almost entirely connected to unvaccinated people.

It is like seeing the car wreck before it happens, said Dr. James Williams, a clinical associate professor of emergency medicine at Texas Tech, who has recently started treating more COVID-19 patients. None of us want to go through this again.

He said the patients are younger many in their 20s, 30s and 40s and overwhelmingly unvaccinated.

As lead pastor of one of Missouris largest churches, Jeremy Johnson has heard the reasons congregants dont want the COVID-19 vaccine. He wants them to know its not only OK to get vaccinated, its what the Bible urges.

I think there is a big influence of fear, said Johnson, whose Springfield-based church also has a campus in Nixa and another about to open in Republic. A fear of trusting something apart from scripture, a fear of trusting something apart from a political party theyre more comfortable following. A fear of trusting in science. We hear that: I trust in God, not science. But the truth is science and God are not something you have to choose between.

Now many churches in southwestern Missouri, like Johnsons Assembly of God-affiliated North Point Church, are hosting vaccination clinics. Meanwhile, about 200 church leaders have signed onto a statement urging Christians to get vaccinated, and on Wednesday announced a follow-up public service campaign.

Opposition to vaccination is especially strong among white evangelical Protestants, who make up more than one-third of Missouris residents, according to a 2019 report by the Pew Research Center.

We found that the faith community is very influential, very trusted, and to me that is one of the answers as to how you get your vaccination rates up, said Ken McClure, mayor of Springfield.

The two hospitals in his city are teeming with patients, reaching record and near-record pandemic highs. Steve Edwards, who is the CEO of CoxHealth in Springfield, tweeted that the hospital has brought in 175 traveling nurses and has 46 more scheduled to arrive by Monday.

Grateful for the help, wrote Edwards, who previously tweeted that anyone spreading misinformation about the vaccine should shut up.

Jacob Burmood, a 40-year-old Kansas City, Missouri, artist, said his mother has been promoting vaccine conspiracy theories even though her husband Burmoods stepfather is hospitalized on a ventilator in Springfield.

It is really, really sad, and it is really frustrating, he said.

Burmood recalled how his mother had recently fallen ill and was trying to tell me that vaccinated people got her sick, and it wasnt even COVID. I just shut her down. I said, Mom, I cant talk to you about conspiracy theories right now. ... You need to go to a hospital. You are going to die.

His mother, who is in her 70s, has since recovered.

In New York City, workers in city-run hospitals and health clinics will be required to get vaccinated or get tested weekly as officials battle a rise in COVID-19 cases, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Wednesday.

De Blasios order will not apply to teachers, police officers and other city employees, but its part of the citys intense focus on vaccinations amid an increase in delta variant infections.

The number of vaccine doses being given out daily in the city has dropped to less than 18,000, down from a peak of more than 100,000 in early April. About 65% of all adults are fully vaccinated, compared with about 60% of public hospital system staffers, said system leader Dr. Mitchell Katz.

Meanwhile, caseloads have been rising in the city for weeks, and health officials say the variant makes up about 7 in 10 cases they sequence.

We have got to deal with it aggressively. And in the end, there is also a thing called personal responsibility, de Blasio said, urging inoculated people to raise the issue with unvaccinated relatives and get up in their face.

Back in Louisiana, New Orleans officials issued the new guidance on indoor masks, hoping to avoid the kind of virus-related shutdowns that devastated the citys tourism economy in 2020. Mayor LaToya Cantrell stopped short of requiring masks. She said the advisory puts the responsibility on individuals themselves.

The announcement came as the citys seven-day average of new cases rose to 117, the highest level since early February. It had fallen as low as eight in mid-June.

___

Salter reported from St. Louis.

Originally posted here:

US virus cases nearly triple in 2 weeks amid misinformation - Associated Press

As Americans start packing bars and live venues once again in the age of mass COVID-19 vaccination -- with many abandoning masks and social distancing measures -- a concerning reality check is taking place.

Health officials and front-line workers, particularly in pockets of the country with relatively low vaccination rates, are again warning the public that they are seeing an influx of unvaccinated patients who are becoming severely ill.

"This is the absolute worst that I've ever seen it," Emily McMichael, a nurse at Mercy Hospital in Springfield, Missouri, told ABC News.

Nationally, more than 17,000 patients are currently receiving care around the country, the highest number in over a month, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The average number of new COVID-19 hospital admissions has also increased dramatically -- to nearly 2,800 admissions a day -- up by 35.8% in the last week.

And the distribution is fairly widespread: over a dozen states have seen significant increases in the number of patients coming into their hospitals in need of care, including Arkansas, which has seen a 76.4% increase in hospital admissions over the last two weeks, and Florida, with a nearly 90% increase.

Experts say the outlook for the country is mixed -- while there won't likely be a nationwide wave like spring 2020 or last winter, there is the possibility of regional surges in unvaccinated areas. And that spread can pose some dangers to the vaccinated population, specifically those who are vulnerable and in the possible creation of new variants that can mitigate or evade vaccines.

'Nasty' delta variant

Although there are still significantly fewer patients receiving care than the peak in January, when 125,000 patients were hospitalized, experts warn the uptick is concerning, particularly as the delta variant continues to spread rapidly across the U.S.

The highly infectious COVID-19 strain, which the nation's top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci called "nasty," is now estimated to account for more than 57% of new cases nationwide. At the end of May, the variant was estimated to account for just over 3% of new cases.

People walk through Times Square, July 13, 2021, in New York.

Although it is still unknown whether the delta variant is more deadly than other variants, experts say it is more dangerous, given how quickly it spreads between people, thus, causing a greater number of infections, and therefore more illnesses and deaths overall.

This rapid spread has caused cases to increase in nearly every state in the country, according to data from Johns Hopkins University, with the national case average doubling in the last three weeks.

However, given the variation in vaccination levels from state to state and even community to community, its effects have varied widely.

"The impact of the more transmissible delta variant will not be felt in a uniform way across the country. Major pockets of unvaccinated people will continue to be the main hosts that will allow this virus to circulate," said John Brownstein, Ph.D., the chief innovation officer at Boston Children's Hospital and an ABC News contributor.

"While vaccines will likely prevent a major national wave, tens of millions of Americans with no prior immunity still remain susceptible to the delta variant," he added.

Communities with fewer vaccinations see significantly higher case rates

A new ABC analysis has found that over the past week, states that have fully vaccinated less than 50% of their total population have reported a weekly average coronavirus case rate that is three times higher than in states that have fully vaccinated more than half of their residents.

States that have fully vaccinated more than half of their residents reported an average of 15.1 new COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people over the last week, compared to an average of 45.1 cases per 100,000 people in states that have vaccinated less than half of their residents.

The 14 states with the highest case rates all have fully vaccinated less than half their total population, and 10 out of the 11 states with the lowest case rates have fully vaccinated more than half of their total population, with the exception being South Dakota.

"In unvaccinated communities where you have increased mobility and reduced mask use and social distancing, we will continue to witness surges and unfortunately unnecessary hospitalizations and deaths," Brownstein said.

With nearly 90% of Americans 65 years and older vaccinated with at least one dose, young Americans appear to be driving this recent increase. According to CDC data, 18- to 24-year-olds currently have the nation's highest new case rate, with only 41.6% of the age group fully vaccinated.

The widespread national impact

For now, experts say they do not foresee a nationwide surge.

"It's likely that COVID-19 is now moving into a phase where it's a regional problem and not a systemic problem for the country, because of the differential in vaccinations. Fully vaccinated areas are going to see a very blunted impact of delta," said Dr. Amesh Adalja, senior scholar at Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security.

Dr. Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at the Georgetown Center for Global Health Science and Security, concurred, telling ABC News that "a surge in Missouri probably doesn't mean much for states with high vaccination rates in terms of hospitalizations."

People gather at a restaurant, as slot machines are seen reflected in the glass, during the celebratory grand opening of Resorts World Las Vegas hotel and casino, June 24, 2021, in Las Vegas.

However, large regional surges in areas of low vaccination could spark major problems for states with fewer health care resources, making the focus on hospital capacity urgent, the experts said.

But surges in under-vaccinated areas can pose a broader nationwide risk for those who are fully vaccinated but remain vulnerable.

"Uncontrolled transmission and population mobility means additional breakthrough infections in vulnerable populations, regardless of whether they happen to be in a state that has good vaccination coverage," Brownstein said.

This is why some local health departments are again considering reinstating restrictions, in the hope of containing infections. On Tuesday, the Chicago Department of Public Health announced that unvaccinated travelers from Arkansas and Missouri, which have both recently experienced significant COVID-19 resurgences, will have to either quarantine for 10 days or present a negative COVID-19 test result.

In Los Angeles County, the nation's largest, officials on Thursday reinstated a mandatory indoor mask mandate -- regardless of vaccination status.

People gather along Main Street to watch fireworks while celebrating Independence Day, July 4, 2021, in Sweetwater, Tenn.

Brownstein also stressed the critical importance of containing the virus, because "unmitigated transmission further increases the probability that a variant with vaccine-evading properties might emerge."

Although Rasmussen believes that it is unlikely that we will see the emergence of a variant that will fully evade vaccines, it is possible a new variant could reduce effectiveness enough to be problematic. In such a case, she said, boosters would become necessary.

Ultimately, said Adalja, "I think it has to be made very clear to people that the delta variant is a disease of the unvaccinated. The breakthrough infections that are occurring in vaccinated people are very, very rare, and not usually clinically significant."

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As COVID-19 surges again, what experts say about the millions of unvaccinated - ABC News

Half of Oconee County residents are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 while 39% of Clarke County residents are fully vaccinated.

In Clarke County, approximately 48,700 residents have received the COVID-19 vaccine or 39%, according to data from the Georgia Department of Public Health. Multiple COVID-19 vaccines require two doses, and DPH reports that 42% of residents have at least one dose.

The Oconee County population is halfway vaccinated, at exactly 50% of residents or a total of 19,200 people as of data from July 14. The percentage of residents with at least one dose sits at 54%.

Madison, Oglethorpe, and Jackson counties are all at 34% fully vaccinated and 37% of residents with at least one dose. Barrow County residents are 31% fully vaccinated and 34% of residents have at least one dose.

More: 'Delta variant appears to be gaining': Georgia, South Carolina see surge in COVID-19 cases

More: Georgia set to cut off federal COVID-19 benefits for unemployed on Saturday

Statewide, 39% of Georgia residents are fully vaccinated and 44% have at least one dose.

In Clarke County, most of the age groups are over the average of 39% fully vaccinated and 42% partially vaccinated. Approximately 44% of residents in the age group 25to 34 years old have received at least one dose, and as the age groups increase, so does that percentage.

There are three age groups that are fallbelow the overall county vaccine rate:the 10-14 age group at 12% with at least one dose of the vaccine, the 15-19 age group at 15% with at least one dose, and the 20-24 age group at 18% with at least one dose.

In the last two weeks, Clarke County has reported74 cases of COVID-19. In the last two weeks, Barrow County had 58 cases, Jackson County had 49 cases, Oconee County had 17 cases reported, Madison County had 10 cases, and Oglethorpe County had 5 cases.

DPH also scales the data and reports the number of cases per 100,000 residents and using this metric, Barrow County had the highest rate equal to 67 cases per 100,000 residents.

Jackson County had a rate equal to 66 cases per 100,000 residents, Clarke had 57 cases per 100,000 residents, Oconee had 41 cases per 100,000 residents, and Madison County had 33 cases per 100,000 residents. There was no data reported for Oglethorpe County.

Statewide, there were 6,208 cases reported during the last two weeks and the case rate per 100,000 residents was equal to 57 cases.

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Athens area COVID-19 update: Oconee leads in vaccinated %, Barrow has most new infections - Online Athens

Confirmed cases of COVID-19 have passed 188.9 million globally, according to Johns Hopkins University. The number of confirmed deaths stands at more than 4.06 million. More than 3.54 billion vaccination doses have been administered globally, according to Our World in Data.

India reported 38,949 new coronavirus cases over the past 24 hours on Friday, health ministry data showed, taking the nationwide tally above 31 million.

Hungary will offer the option of taking a third dose of a COVID-19 vaccine from 1 August and will make coronavirus vaccines mandatory for all healthcare workers, Prime Minister Viktor Orban told state radio on Friday.

Los Angeles County will reimpose its mask mandate this weekend in the latest sign that public health officials are struggling with an alarming rise in coronavirus cases tied to the highly contagious Delta variant.

The Philippines has recorded the country's first locally acquired cases of the more infectious Delta variant, prompting authorities to reimpose stricter coronavirus measures in some areas.

Many countries are experiencing a consistent rise in COVID-19 cases, caused by the spread of the Delta variant.

Image: Our World in Data

Further information is needed to discover more about the origins of COVID-19, World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has said.

A WHO-led team spent four weeks in and around the city of Wuhan, China, with Chinese researchers and said in a joint report in March 2021 that the virus had probably been transmitted from bats to humans through another animal. It said that "introduction through a laboratory incident was considered to be an extremely unlikely pathway".

But speaking in a press conference on Thursday, Tedros said that investigations into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic in China were being hampered by the lack of raw data on the first days of spread there.

"We ask China to be transparent and open and to cooperate," he said. "We owe it to the millions who suffered and the millions who died to know what happened."

China has called the theory that the virus may have escaped from a Wuhan laboratory "absurd" and said that "politicizing" the issue will hamper investigations.

Tedros will brief the WHO's 194 member states on Friday regarding a proposed second phase of study, the WHO's top emergency expert Mike Ryan said.

"We look forward to working with our Chinese counterparts on that process and the director-general will outline measures to member states at a meeting tomorrow, on Friday," he told reporters.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.

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COVID-19: What you need to know about the coronavirus pandemic on 16 July - World Economic Forum

4:49 PM ET

Jeff PassanESPN

All-Star outfielder Aaron Judge was among six New York Yankees players who tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday, forcing the postponement of their home game against the Boston Red Sox that was supposed to open Major League Baseball's second half and leaving other players on the American League All-Star team undergoing testing to ensure they didn't contract the virus, sources told ESPN.

In addition to Judge, third baseman Gio Urshela and catcher Kyle Higashioka were in the league's COVID-19 protocols after testing positive on rapid tests and awaiting confirmation from a test with greater accuracy, sources told ESPN's Buster Olney. Relievers Jonathan Loaisiga, Nestor Cortes Jr. and Wandy Peralta had confirmed positives and were placed on the COVID-19 injured list, Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said.

"It's a fluid situation that could spread," Cashman said. "It has spread to some degree."

While the rash of positives threw into flux the immediate future of a Yankees team still trying to determine how it will approach the July 30 trade deadline, Judge's inclusion rippled across the league, with players who participated in Tuesday's All-Star Game flying across the country to play a full slate of games Friday. Red Sox third baseman Rafael Devers told ESPN's Marly Rivera that the team's five All-Stars would undergo further testing on Thursday. Unvaccinated All-Stars were tested for COVID-19 while in Denver for the game, and all of the tests came back negative, sources said.

The Yankees, who are in fourth place in the American League East at 46-43, were hoping to put a dent in Boston's eight-game advantage. The Red Sox swept both three-game series against New York in the season's first half, and the teams were scheduled to play eight games over the next week and a half as the trade deadline approaches and the Yankees figure out whether to contend for a playoff spot, punt on the season or hold as is.

This is the second outbreak on the Yankees this year despite the team exceeding the 85% vaccination threshold that allows teams to enjoy relaxed protocols. In May, more than a half-dozen Yankees coaches, including pitching coach Matt Blake, third-base coach Phil Nevin and first-base coach Reggie Willits, tested positive. Nevin spent three weeks in the hospital but credited being vaccinated with saving him from a worse outcome.

"I guess the last year, year and a half, has in some ways kind of prepared you for this kind of stuff," manager Aaron Boone said. "Certainly disappointing and frustrating, and don't want to be sitting here talking about this, and desperately want us to go back to as normal as possible. But that's out of our control, too. And we just got to do the best with the circumstances and with the hand that we're dealt and try to make sure we're taking care of one eat one another as best we can, taking care of our players and staff as best we can. And hopefully get through this."

Among the six Yankees players currently with positive tests, the majority had received a COVID-19 vaccine and were asymptomatic, according to Cashman. Loaisiga went on the COVID-19 injured list Saturday, when the Yankees were in Houston, and did not travel home with the team Sunday.

"We're thankful that we're vaccinated in most cases, not all cases, but in most cases, so we're ultimately protected," Cashman said.

The status of the New York-Boston game Friday at Yankee Stadium remains in flux, and as MLB conducts testing on close contacts and the Yankees scramble to mobilize players to fill out a roster that could be missing nearly a quarter of its regulars, MLB can choose to postpone that game as well.

"You don't want to take any chances," Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. "I think, from my end, playing [two games on Friday] doesn't make sense. Hopefully, we can play one. But the league will decide that."

This was the eighth COVID-19-related postponement this season but the first in nearly three months. Also delayed were a three-game series between the New York Mets and Washington Nationals on April 1-4 and Atlanta's game at the Nationals on April 5, two Minnesota Twins-Los Angeles Angels games on April 17-18 and a Twins-Oakland Athletics game on April 19.

There were 45 regular-season games postponed for virus-related reasons last year with two not made up.

New York was among the first major league teams to reach the 85% vaccination threshold to lessen coronavirus protocols such as dropping mask use in dugouts and bullpens.

MLB said in its last announcement on June 25 that 23 of its 30 teams had reached an 85% vaccination rate among Tier 1 individuals, such as players and on-field staff. The Red Sox were not among them.

New York players were taking early batting practice about 3 hours before the scheduled start Thursday when the Yankees asked media to leave the field while the team conducted COVID-19 testing. Boston, whose 55-36 record matched Houston for best in the AL, came onto the field to take batting practice as the postponement was announced.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Sources - Aaron Judge among six New York Yankees to test positive for COVID-19 - ESPN

NEW DELHIWith Indias hospitals under siege from a coronavirus wave in April, Mallik Manem found it nearly impossible to consult with a physician in the southern city of Hyderabad about care for his 81-year-old mother, who was sick with Covid-19. One harried doctor, Mr. Manem said, carved out five minutes to chat over the phone.

So the 55-year-old, who was himself ill with Covid-19, went online. Mr. Manem was able to consult with four doctors in the U.S. over video chats. One looked over lab results; another recommended breathing exercises.

It was just fantastic, said Mr. Manem, an Atlanta resident who was in India visiting family. Each doctor gave me at least 15 to 20 minutes of their time. His mother has since fully recovered.

The role of telemedicine has grown in many countries since the start of the pandemic. Often it has allowed people to consult with physicians without leaving their homes during lockdowns and avoid spreading or contracting the virus. In much of the developing world with weaker healthcare systems, and particularly in India during the recent surge, telemedicine has played a far more vital role.

Telemedicine has almost become a replacement for in-person care in many cases in India, said Vikram Kapur, a partner at Bain & Co. who leads its Asia-Pacific healthcare practice. Theres just not enough doctors and so many people needing care, he said.

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Doctors Online Provided Lifeline From Afar While Covid-19 Swept Through India - The Wall Street Journal

AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) The Maine Legislatures budget-writing committee voted along party lines on a plan for spending nearly $1 billion in federal COVID-19 relief funds that tracks closely with a plan laid out by the governor.

But Democratic Gov. Janet Mills urged the panel to negotiate a compromise that could gain the support of two-thirds majority of lawmakers to go into effect immediately, instead of 90 days after lawmakers adjourn.

If we allow three more months to pass simply because we couldnt find consensus, then that could mean the difference between a business surviving or failing, between a parent being able to afford child care so they can go back to work or not, between expanding broadband to rural communities or not, Mills said. The stakes are high. The implications are real.

The proposal includes money for economic recovery and job training; child care and education; and broadband, affordable housing and energy efficiency, among other things.

Rep. Sawin Millett, R-Waterford, his partys leading House committee member, said hes concerned about using one-time federal funds to create ongoing state spending, causing problems down the road.

Republicans proposed a similar alternative that includes more pandemic relief for businesses. One sticking point was that $20 million of $50 million in funding for building or renovating affordable housing must go to firms that have agreements with organized labor.

Senate Minority Leader Jeff Timberlake, R-Turner, said he hoped negotiations would continue over the weekend before lawmakers reconvene Monday.

But Sen. Cathy Breen, D-Falmouth, Senate chair of the budget committee, said any further changes will have to be made in the form of amendments once floor debate begins on the proposal.

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Follow APs coverage of the pandemic at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic.

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Panel approves spending of nearly $1B in COVID-19 relief - Associated Press

After a turbulent year that exacerbated and highlighted long-standing structural issues across the United States, the National Urban League, a civil rights advocacy organization, said in its annual "State of Black America" report released Thursday that COVID-19 has worsened racial issues in the country.

In partnership with the Brookings Institution, Johns Hopkins Center for Health Equity and Center for Policing Equity, the report analyzed the devastation in Black communities in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Structural racism is not new to many of us. For centuries and even today, Black lives continue to be subject to laws, policies and practices that have created and sustained systematic oppression that impacts every facet of our lives," Tracie Keesee, co-founder and senior vice president of social justice initiatives at the Center for Policing Equity, said at a virtual event Thursday discussing the release of the report.

The report highlighted three main issues in the Black community right now, including economic injustice, racism in policing and health care inequality.

COVID-19 has proven flaws in the U.S. health care system, the report asserts. Black and brown victims are disproportionately dying from the virus, compared to other white populations, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Black individuals are two times more likely to die from COVID-19 than people who are white, and Hispanics are 2.3 times more likely to die, according to CDC data.

A healthcare worker wheels a stretcher into the emergency room at Lenox Health Greenwich Village in New York, May 26, 2020.

And even though the percentage of Black and white people who are vaccine hesitant or refusing to get the vaccine are roughly the same, vaccinate rates are much lower among Black populations. The report states that disparities in COVID-19 vaccination rates indicate inequities in vaccine distribution and access for Black populations.

The group's research also found that Black people are more likely than whites to live more than 10 miles from a vaccine facility.

Poor access to health care is just one result of structural racism, the report states. Economic inequality is another, which was also worsened by COVID-19.

The typical African American household had less than 15% of the median wealth of a typical white household, and Black workers face significant pay gaps in the workforce, according to data from the Federal Reserve Bank.

And during the COVID-19 pandemic, almost 17% of Black households lacked basic financial services, compared to only 3% of white households, according to the Brookings Institution.

A nurse wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) attends to a patient in a Covid-19 intensive care unit (ICU) at Martin Luther King Jr. Community Hospital on Jan. 6, 2021 in Los Angeles.

Experts at the National Urban League said the existing inequalities can be fixed by closing the racial wealth gap, reparations and more.

"We need to look at wage suppression, and wage in equity as a racial issue in and of itself," Jennifer Jones Austin, the CEO and executive director of the Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies, said Thursday on the panel discussing the report. "Why can't we increase wages at the federal level? It is because this nation has determined that there will always be an underclass. And disproportionately that underclass represents Black and brown Americans."

Police brutality and violence have also been a consequence of structural racism, according to the report.

Even as the racial reckoning took over the country following the death of George Floyd, killings of Black people at the hands of police continued, including Daunte Wright, Ma'Khia Bryant and others.

Black people are not only more likely to be killed by police, but according to the Center for Policing Equity, Black people were also about 6.5 times more likely to be stopped while driving and 20 times more likely to be searched than their white counterparts.

To solve this, the National Urban League recommended reenvisioning public safety and what its structure and function in communities looks like.

A dose of Covid-19 vaccine is administered in Odessa, Texas, May 27, 2021.

The organization also recommended holding officers accountable for misconduct, changing divisive policing policies, requiring transparency, reporting and data collection and improving training standards.

Not much has improved since last year's "State of Black America" report, experts on the panel said, but with the data and knowledge that has been gathered this year on structural racism and how it impacts people of color, some community leaders have hope.

"Dismantling structural racism -- identifying and repairing the cracks in our national foundation -- will result in more resilient and dynamic institutions that expand opportunity for everyone," Marc Morial, president and CEO of the National Urban League, said in the report. "As the pandemic becomes more of a memory, we are challenged to keep the same energy and finish what we started."

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COVID-19 heightened racial issues in the US: Report - ABC News